Disability Insurance Articles
How An APS Affects Disability Insurance Quotes
2011-12-22
Disability insurance quotes are determined by carefully evaluating dozens of factors including the applicant's age, gender, occupation and overall health. Evaluating all of these factors accurately can be difficult, and many disability insurance companies will ask for things like an attending physician statement, often abbreviated as APS, before issuing disability insurance quotes. An APS can also determine eligibility for disability insurance benefits, so it's important to understand the purpose and contents of an APS when buying coverage.
When an individual applies for disability insurance quotes, insurance companies will often ask for an attending physician's statement to verify that the individual has no preexisting conditions that might increase the chances of a claim. The purpose of the APS is to get a medical professional's opinion on the overall health of the applicant. An APS will contain a general overview of the applicant's health, but it is not a complete health record. Nevertheless, it's considered sufficient for determining whether the applicant can get coverage and can be used in setting disability insurance quotes. Some disability insurance companies will only ask for an APS if there's evidence of a preexisting condition or if a policy holder has made several disability insurance claims in the past. In these situations, the APS verifies the condition of the applicant, but the statement is typically very brief.
An APS can also be important when disability insurance benefits are being assigned. Disability insurance companies will usually require regular examinations while a policy holder is collecting benefits and will use the attending physician's statement to determine whether or not the policy holder can return to work. Benefits may be restricted in certain circumstances, for instance if a patient is not complying with the physician's recommendations. On the other hand, a disability insurance company will not be able deny benefits if the APS indicates that the patient needs ongoing care or that the patient cannot return to work for any valid medical reason.
Disability insurance applicants cannot manipulate their attending physician statements in any way in order to get better quotes, although staying healthy is one of the best ways to keep premiums low. It's also possible to find low rates by evaluating several disability insurance quotes before buying coverage, as buyers who study their options will be better educated about various disability insurance terms and will choose from a wider variety of quotes than buyers who get policies through their employers or buyers who only get one or two quotes before buying coverage. In any case, it's helpful to know what to expect when an insurer asks for an APS when determining insurability.